- vingt-six -

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"Do you think we should take Cepheus to a muggle healer," asked Draco quietly when they finally agree to let Scorpius spend the weekend with Teddy. It's not an unfounded conversation, taking him to a doctor, but it was one that only came up when Lucius was able to burrow his way into Draco's head.

"Is this about what your dad said during brunch on Sunday?" Harry said, his grip tight on his pen as he paused in the middle of writing to decline an invitation to another Ministry function. Draco looked nervously over his shoulder at the papers.

"You can't just keep declining them every time they invite you to a banquet."

"Don't change the subject. Is this about your dad?"

"No! I just-" Draco won't look at him. "What if I did something wrong or something I shouldn't have when I carried him. Magic can't detect everything. If he is physically healthy and capable of doing something, then that's as far as magic goes. It can't do anything to explain what happens if he won't."

"There is nothing wrong with Cepheus," said Harry sternly, turning around to look at Draco. "He just experiences the world differently and there is nothing wrong with that."

"I'm not-" Draco looked taken aback."I would never insinuate that there was. I just want to know what's going on so I can help him. I want to know what we can do to make things easier. When we all learned to sign, that was a huge step, but it didn't solve everything. He never wants to play with the twins or anyone really. He just sits and watches. Or he fusses over that bloody chess set. Or he's insisting that someone holds him. I just want to know why."

"And you think a muggle doctor can help with that?"

"I don't know, but it's the only option we haven't tried."

It takes a little more than 2 weeks for Harry, Draco and Hermione to find a squib doctor who knows enough about male pregnancy and magical children and their maladies to give Cepheus and the twins a general check-up. It takes another week for him to have an opening. They dropped James and Albus at the Granger-Weasley house before heading to the appointment.

Draco thought back to watching Astoria grab Scorpius and go to meetings like these. Meetings he had thought were beneath him for so long. Even after he brushed off his father's prejudice about blood purity he was still too tense to properly visit muggle areas, especially to admit weakness. When Astoria died, it all fell on him. Scheduling appointments and finding doctors who would work with mind healers and mediwizards that would asist therapists. At the end of the day he ended up finding one place and just doing it all himself.

Now he was back at phase one again, listening as the nurse asked them a few questions before the doctor came in. After the initial check up, he returns to refer them to the in-hiding wizard psychiatrist. The walk up the two flights of stairs to his office gave Draco time to try out a few deep breathing exercises. They didn't work.

Harry reached his hand up to knock on the door, but it's thrown open before he can.

"Mr. and Mr. Malfoy-Potter, welcome! I'm Dr. Kitano." The wizard in front of them looks old and senile, but both his hands and his eyes are steady as they reach for Cepheus. "Excuse me, young man, can I  hold your hand for a moment?"

The young boy shakes his head though and signs quickly, Harry starting to interpret for older wizard.

"Can't talk with no hands."

"I assure you, it'll only be a moment," the wizard said, squatting so that he and Cepheus were practically at eye level. The young boy narrowed his eyes the way he had seen his father do so many times, without making eye contact, yet shook his head no again. The man nodded and instead asked him to follow him over to a corner of his office filled with toys. Cepheus doesn't join him until the doctor tells him what's in the corner.

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